Germany open to reparations review

Germany said it is open to a review of reparations paid out to Holocaust survivors in Israel.

A German government spokesman, Thomas Steg, said Wednesday that Berlin would not turn down a request by the Israeli government to reassess a reparations treaty signed in 1952.

The remarks followed a call by Rafi Eitan, an Israeli Cabinet minister with responsibilities for Holocaust survivors, for Germany to examine increasing its payouts.

According to Israeli media reports, Eitan’s main argument is that only two-thirds of the reparations sum agreed upon in 1952 was paid. The other one-third was deferred for the eventual reunification of West and East Germany but was never realized.

Eitan has also noted that in the past two decades, Israel took in a large number of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, including Holocaust survivors. That influx, he said, could not have been predicted in the 1952 deal.